2024 the best american science fiction and fantasy 2023 review

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The best science fiction and fantasy stories of 2021, selected by series editor John Joseph Adams and guest editor Veronica Roth.

This year’s selection of science fiction and fantasy stories, chosen by series editor John Joseph Adams and bestselling author of the Divergent series Veronica Roth, showcases a crop of authors that are willing to experiment and tantalize readers with new takes on classic themes and by exchanging the ordinary for the avant-garde. Folktales and lore come alive, the dead rise, the depths of space are traversed, and magic threads itself through singular moments of love and loss, illuminating the circulatory nature of life, death, the in-between, and the hereafter. The Best American Science Fiction and Fantasy 2021 captures the all-too-real cataclysm of human nature, claiming its place in the series with compelling prose, lyrical composition, and curiosity’s never-ending pursuit of discovering the unknown.
 

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Customer Reviews

4.3 out of 5 stars

428

4.2 out of 5 stars

191

4.2 out of 5 stars

213

4.4 out of 5 stars

167

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Read all of this year's best of the best stories and writing
A collection of this year’s best stories selected by two-time National Book Award winner Jesmyn Ward. Folktales and lore come alive and the dead rise in this year's collection of the best stories brought to you by #1 New York Times best-selling author of the Divergent series Veronica Roth. Equal parts shocking and irresistible, best-selling crime novelist Alafair Burke brings this year's best stories. Award-winning journalist and New Yorker Staff writer Kathryn Schulz selects this year's top essays, showcasing that even if our lives as we knew them stopped, the beauty to be found in them flourished.

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Live vicariously through this year's best stories, selected by Padma Lakshmi, giving us views into experiences unlike our own and taking us on journeys we could not take ourselves. The year’s top food writing, from writers who celebrate the many innovative, comforting, mouthwatering, and culturally rich culinary offerings of our country. Edited by Silvia Killingsworth and renowned chef and author Gabrielle Hamilton. New York Times best-selling author and renowned science journalist Ed Yong compiles the best science and nature writing published in 2020.

Publisher ‏ : ‎ Mariner Books (October 12, 2021)
Language ‏ : ‎ English
Paperback ‏ : ‎ 432 pages
ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 0358469961
ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0358469964
Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 12.8 ounces
Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 5.5 x 1.08 x 8.25 inches
Reviewer: Richard Thomas
Rating: 5.0 out of 5 stars
Title: Always worth the trip.
Review: I never love all of the stories, but each year I find quite a few that blow my mind. Here are the top stories, the ones I taught in my workshops:The Pill by Meg Elison—very original, quite moving, pretty dark and gruesome at timesTiger’s Feast by KT Bryski—loved this one, good emotion, nice imageryCrawfather by Mel Kassel—funny, dark, and originalThe Long Walk by Kate Elliott—quite an epic saga, with a pretty satisfying endingSkipping Stones in the Dark by Amman Sabet—unsettling, and nicely movingThe Cleaners by Ken Liu—my favorite story in the anthology, genuinely moving, nice structureThe Beast Adjoins by Ted Kosmatka—very original and quite compelling

Reviewer: Patricia
Rating: 4.0 out of 5 stars
Title: Christmas present.
Review: I bought this for my grandson and he liked it very much. Had read other books by this author and was pleased with present.

Reviewer: jnacherry
Rating: 5.0 out of 5 stars
Title: Sci-Fi Book
Review: My brother was really happy with this book. He loves this type of books with so many stories by authors he didn’t know.

Reviewer: Corey Reynolds
Rating: 3.0 out of 5 stars
Title: Genres are now meaningless
Review: UPDATE: I’m raising my rating to 3 stars because the Sci-Fi and Fantasy finally get flowing about half-way through the book, and there are some real gems (looking at you, “The Beast Adjoins”). Plus, like I said in my first take, I have really enjoyed every story (except “How to Pay Reparations: A Documentary”; that one sucked).First, let me say that despite the 2-star review, I don’t hate this book. I’m even sort of inspired by it in some ways. I’ll get the other annual volumes, etc. My problem here is that the words “Science Fiction” and “Fantasy” have been so deconstructed by unhappy feminists that they cease to mean anything. There is basically nothing separating these various volumes in the “Best American” series anymore (at least in the fiction categories).I feel like the Basement Bros of the Gamergate era were really fighting for something quite important in retrospect. From books like this, it seems clear that females crossing into typically male-dominated realms like sci-fi, fantasy, video-games, etc. did not so much add new voices and perspectives to existing genres, but instead broke them or killed them. Well, maybe it didn’t kill them, because plenty of good science fiction and fantasy still exists (some of it written by very creative women), but it apparently killed the distinction in the minds of the editors at places like Harper-Collins.A better title for a series like this would be, “The Best American Leftist Propaganda Fiction 2021” or “The Best American Speculative Feminist Stories 2021”. And you know what? I might even still buy the thing, because I actually appreciate the art. But when I buy a book that says “Science Fiction and Fantasy”, I expect to read space opera, cyberpunk, sword and sorcery, or maybe even wuxia. There is so precious little of that here that I can’t help but wonder about all the stories that were left on the cutting room floor.If this editor can’t compile the year’s best science fiction and fantasy, then maybe it’s time for a new editor.The introduction by Veronica Roth was outstanding.

Reviewer: Auntie Pedantic
Rating: 5.0 out of 5 stars
Title: Loved the stories!
Review: No repeats, great selection, nice text quality and well worth the cost.

Reviewer: Bort
Rating: 4.0 out of 5 stars
Title: Three great ones, pretty good overall
Review: Ted Kosmatka “The Beast Adjoins.” Read the collection for this one alone. I saw an article where the author could not stop thinking about this short story and I couldn’t agree more. It’s really something else, a fresh take on AI that messes with your head for sure.This is a solid collection. I found some new authors to read, their novels as I’m really not much of a short story reader, which is always nice.

Reviewer: Luke
Rating: 5.0 out of 5 stars
Title: Excellent Collection
Review: I read a few of the Best American anthologies this year, and this one was easily my favorite cover to cover. A great mix of new authors and more established ones in the sci-fi and fantasy genres.

Reviewer: Marco P
Rating: 1.0 out of 5 stars
Title: Every story a dud
Review: I'm halfway through, and every story has been terrible. They're boring, plotless, and without endings. And most didn't even qualify as sci-fi/fantasy. I rarely leave a book unfinished, but I won't waste any more of my time with this one. How this selection could have gotten through two editors is beyond me.